Have You Met Their Mother
by Readwitch
Summary: Did not like the Elle-Claire reunion one bit, here's how I think they should meet up again soon after It Coming. They talk...
1. Of Course Claire's The Catalyst

Okay, this little idea visited after a recent episode and wouldn't leave me alone. I couldn't write for Elle Saves The Day with this plot bunny attacking me, so I went with it. It was supposed to be a oneshot, but then my exposition got out of control and took on a life of its own and I was suddenly 10+ pages. So I found a nice spot and stopped there. I hope I can control myself and it will be a twoshot or something. Seriously though, my Sylar was supposed to be in this story and where is he… probably stalking Mohinder or something.

Sigh, I want Elle and Sylar to be super awesome, morally ambiguous best friends who just chilling at Pinhearst for now, but might switch sides for fun and then they make out when they get bored. They'd have fun times where they help each other's love life, like Sylar pretends to go after Claire so Elle can save the day or Elle scares Mohinder with her girl parts and Sylar is there to comfort him. Instead the show has an incredibly bipolar Elle, who is admittedly awesome at times, but who forgets that she totally made the mile high club with Claire and a Sylar who is just on whatever side the person he's hanging with tells him too. DUDE, maybe that's like somewhat screwed up empathy…err I just ranted didn't I. Well, forgive me. I'm sorry.

I don't own Heroes, 'cause if I did… well see above paragraph.

p.s. The title was chosen for 3 reasons…

1. It's a Heroes quotes and I have a fondness for them.

2. Dude, it's Angela.

3. A lot of this chapter is a story and I had a couple of How I Met Your Mother jokes in my head while writing this. (By the way, actress plays Angela is also Ted's mom and I always got the slut vibe from her, like she could be Matt's and Hiro's mom too… crossover anyone. Haha hust kidding.)

**Have You Met Their Mother**

Chapter One- Of Course Claire's The Catalyst

"But that isn't fair," Claire shouted at the Patrellis. Angela, Peter and Nathan had ganged up on her, all wearing severe faces, to exclude her from helping. The rest of their little Primatech group, Daphne and Matt, were standing to the side a little awkwardly, figuring this to be a family moment.

"Listen Claire, it's important for you to stay here. I think it's best if we keep you as far away from Pinehearst as possible," Peter explained in what Claire saw as a condescending tone. Nathan stood off to the side, letting Peter handle it. He did feel concern for Claire, his daughter, but knew she was most receptive to Peter and that it was best to let him try and explain it to Claire. Unfortunately, things weren't going so well.

"Peter, I'm not gonna hang around here while you guys go and get yourself killed. I'm unkillable, I can help… even if it's just an emergency blood transfusion," Claire stated fiercely.

"We're not going in there to fight," Peter stated as calmly as possible, "Just find out what we can. Nathan's advisor, Tracy, has somehow gotten Nathan into see Dad; the rest of us are just… just back up. We are just going to find information. Daphne only knows so much and this may be our only chance before everything goes to hell."

"I'm not an idiot," Claire hissed, that same bitter tone coating her voice that her Dad had become so used to lately. She curses herself for wishing he was here right now because, no offense to the Petrellis, but Peter was powerless and none of the rest had any real offense power; at least not against the powerhouse that was waiting for them at Pinehearst. "There is a very real chance that this will come to blows, and I will never be able to live with myself if something happens to you and I could have prevented it."

Peter looks like he has more to say. His face hardens, just a bit, and his eyes focus sharply on Claire. Her entire body seems to straighten out in an instant, with arms crossed and defiance written on her face. She has been through a number of speeches from her dad lately, and she knows, having been lectured by Peter before, that Peter's speech will not compare to her father's. She can win this one.

Only it's not Peter's voice she hears next. Angela Petrelli steps forward, making sure to put her hand on Peter in a way that's probably meant to be comforting. Claire thinks it looks controlling; dominating.

"Claire," Angela says quietly, "This is not about you. Your power is _extraordinary, _but it won't help you at all in this situation. The people don't want to kill you, they want to capture you. People will always want to capture you; your blood can heal any wound in an instant. Do you realize how much we have to lose? If we bring you along, you will be all we can think about. You would not be that important in a fight anyways. The best you could do is distract possibly one powerhouse. Less if they just lock you away and return to the fight. And, in case you have forgotten, there is a very real possibility that you contain the catalyst that my husband is obsessed with. He might not know this, but if you are there it will most definitely be on all of our minds and he will find out and be after you more than ever. So if you want to doom any chance we could possibly have, then go ahead, come with us." Angela finishes her speech with a superior look on her face and her words are drenched in soft venom.

Claire swallows back a scream, so sick at being special; the freak among freaks. No matter what happens, no matter who's in danger, she can't help. She is always stuck sitting on the sidelines or waiting to be saved. It was one thing when she first discovered her power and had a serial killer after her. Her entire life was crumbling around her and she would have done anything for somebody to save her. Peter came and saved her, but only from Sylar. Her family was just as screwed up as before and just continued to get worse. She didn't want to be protected anymore. She couldn't die or get hurt and nobody seemed to want to protect her feelings. The only two white knights she found were both useless; one who couldn't understand her and the other turned out to be her uncle. The only person who knew what she was and had still treated her like an equal, like it didn't matter, was a complete psychopath; and even she had abandoned Claire. She was sick of getting left behind and it was happening again. Didn't anyone care?

"Fine," Claire choked out, arms rigid against her side as she glares at Angela. "Then I'll leave you to your scheming. I'm going to the mall; I assume you won't be here when I get back, so good luck I guess." And with maximum teenage angst, Claire stomped upstairs to get her purse. They had all headed back to the Petrelli's to regroup, and the house still had some of Claire's old things from her former visit. She also could have sworn there were things she didn't remember. As soon as she had her purse, though, she was heading for the door. Nathan stopped her just as she was leaving the house.

"Claire," he started, clearing his throat uneasily, "I know you don't agree with what's going on, but it really is for the best." Claire just glared at her bio-dad. She had given him a small chance when she first found out about him, but then she discovered that he wanted to bribe her out of his life and her opinion of him continues to sink further after that. Nathan continues, "Listen… just… here. For the mall."

Claire accepts the small card from her biological with a small frown. From the beginning she would have rather known him than had money, but obviously Peter, the black horse of the family, was the only Petrelli worth knowing. She takes the credit card and leaves without a word, quickly headed to the bus station. She's not going to confront anyone, Angela made good points, but she is going to get herself situated near the building just in case. After all, she didn't say what mall she was visiting.

----

Claire was extremely lucky. It was pretty obvious, actually. There were many possibilities on who could have adopted her, many who would have used her as a test subject. She was lucky to be given to her dad who, despite having many badass and outright evil moments, loved her and did everything in his power to keep her safe. It was definitely good fortune that her power happened to be healing. She had experienced many injuries that would have killed her, even before she was actively involved in any sinister plots. She was accidently tacked and her head did a complete 180 for Christ's sake. Yet her infamous luck seemed to have disappeared today.

Claire was sitting in a small café, connected to a mall in New Jersey, drinking a coffee she bought with Nathan's credit card. The mall she went to, the café she's sitting just happens to be very close to Pinehearst. So close, in fact, that from the table she's sitting at, she can see the entrance way. It wasn't hard to get here either. The bus took longer than plane, but she wasn't nearly as far away as she was before. And she already made it here once. Now she didn't know what to do.

She had decided to travel near Pinehearst when she was angry and upset; she had no rational plan in mind. Now she sat, sipping coffee, and wondering where to go from here. She hadn't seen Nathan or anyone else show up, and for all she knew he'd visit his father via the roof, and she knew that they wouldn't call her even if the worst happened. They probably wouldn't even tell her the truth when she talked to them later in the house. She was too stubborn to head back now, even if the possibility of helping was practically zero. So she was going to sit in a coffee shop all day, staring at a building. That was the plan…

"Claire?!" somebody yelled and, before she could even turn around and see who it was, there were suddenly arms around her. For a second she felt terror, well in the 'my dad is gonna kill me' way and not the 'Sylar's ripping my head open' way. She had been caught. And then she realized that whoever just grabbed her had not, in fact, grabbed her, but had… glomped her. She struggled a little and her mystery hugger released her and jumped back slightly, keeping their arms linked loosely, to reveal a grinning Elle.

"What are you doing here, cheerleader? Did you change your mind about Pinehearst?" Elle asked, still grinning madly. Claire stiffened and shifted her body out of Elle's light grip, eyeing the other blonde warily.

"No, I'm just shopping," Claire answered in a clipped tone. She sized up Elle, who had finally dropped the grin at her answer and was looking at her nervously, and noticed that Elle looked better groomed than when she had abandoned Claire at Pinehearst. Her hair looked less frazzled and her clothes less wrinkled, not to mention she looked like she had gotten a couple good nights of sleep. Her eyes narrowed as she realized what that most likely meant.

"Me too, I was looking for a pres-" Elle started anxiously before Claire cut her off.

"The fixed you..?" Claire questioned in a low tone, not quite sure if she was happy for Elle.

"Well," Elle started, "I… it was sort of Pinehearst… mostly I mean. I think my powers shortening was a little, or all, psychological… that's what Claude had said and nobody actually physically did anything for me. Like no drugs or shots or anything… it was just Gab- umm they just talked to me and it helped dramatically… plus I expelled so much electricity so that might have helped… but yeah.. I ummm got fixed there." She gave a small, unsure smile and scooted a little closer to Claire.

"I guess that's good for you. I hope it was worth it, you know, leaving me and Peter there to become company girl 2.0," Claire hissed, suddenly glaring. She didn't move away from Elle, though, so Elle decided to take a chance.

"I'm sorry," she blurted, "I know we were in this together, but I was in so much pain and I was just following through with the plan. I don't deviate from the plan, especially not when all signs point to it working."

"Wait," Claire sputtered, "You're not implying that I was in the wrong. Peter was thrown out the window and needed help, and you just left us." She was now looking in incredulously at Elle, and Elle did hear the hurt that was in her voice. "I should have expected it, you know, but I thought that we were becoming a little bit like friends."

"I thought so, too," Elle interrupted. She grabbed Claire's shoulders and forced Claire to look directly at her. "I wasn't trying to imply anything. I just… the pain was so much and getting rid of it was all I could think about. If I thought more I might have realized that it wasn't smart, but I don't do that. I am impulsive; even my decision to join with you was all impulse. And I could care less about Peter. He's a jerk face. I don't know who wouldn't take the opportunity to throw him off a building. I just… I said sorry to you when I left you because I didn't want to leave you. And I am sorry. I still want to be… a little bit like friends. We can hang out today, at the mall. I have somewhere to be later, but for now…I… just… please."

Claire's hostile expression didn't change, even as she shrugged herself loose from Elle's grip. If Claire still felt pain, Elle might have tried to shock it off her face. But as it was Claire just stared at her; thinking. Elle seemed apologetic, repentant, but Claire knew she would probably make the same choice again. And Claire was right; she should have known. After all, Elle didn't really understand loyalty.

The only person Elle was ever loyal to had been her father and Claire understood it was forced loyalty. Abuse, experiments, manipulation, erasing memories, probably even mind control; Claire knew Elle was doomed from the start. Claire had been an idiot to think she could become a real person in a day or two. Now the only person Elle cared for was herself. An experimentation gone wrong; a monster without a master. No matter how sad or remorseful Elle seemed, Claire needed to remember that it was fake, even if Elle didn't realize that.

At the same time, though, if Elle was Pinehearst's new attack dog or whatever, then it would be best if she wasn't there for the Petrelli family meet and greet. At least this way Claire could was contributing, even a little. So she put on a fake smile stuck out her hand.

"Fine then, let's start over," Claire said, acting the part of a cheesy movie that Elle had probably never seen, "Hi, my name's Claire Bennet." Elle's nervous, tentative smile exploded into 100 watt grin and she grasped Claire's hand and shook almost violently.

"Elle Bishop, it's nice to meet you."

---

Despite what Claire apparently thought, Elle was not an idiot. She knew that Claire was still pissed off and angry and didn't want to hang out with her. Claire may have done some company-like work and captured Doyle, but she doubted subterfuge was involved. Still, she didn't know why Claire was faking and that was enough reason to go along with it. Maybe she was faking, but hoping the lie would become truth; Elle had done that often enough. Elle doubted it, though, because she didn't think Claire really wanted to be her friend. But maybe, if she was awesome enough, Claire would end up enjoying herself and forgive Elle. Elle could hope, so she put on a big smile and grabbed Claire's hand and began to pull her away from the café.

---

Claire stared at the closed changing room door in exasperation. She was a normal teenage girl, able to spend hours at the mall, but Elle was trying her patience. The majority of it was that she had been standing outside the changing room for ten minutes now and Elle hadn't reappeared. A small part of her exasperation stemmed from the fact that she was actually having fun. They had only started clothes shopping. So far they had just stopped at the food court for a greasy lunch and looked at some new DVDs, along with the hour Elle inexplicably spent trying on watches, but spending time with Elle wasn't bad. She was funny and amusing, despite her obvious neurosis. It had been a while since she had just hung out with someone, though, but that was no excuse for how hard she had laughed when Elle shorted out the computer system for the store with the rudest clerk ever. Elle was right in this instance, though, the bitch deserved it.

Claire snapped to attention as the door opened suddenly. Elle reached out and grabbed her, pulling her into the small cubicle.

"What are you doing," Claire said, startled.

"I just need your help. I can't decide between these two tops and I want your opinion," Elle stated hopefully, already pulling off one shirt and grabbing a new one.

"T-t-that's fine, Elle, but you don't need to pull me in here. You could have just showed me out there," Claire stuttered, shocked at Elle's boldness. She sometimes wondered if Bob had taught Elle any normal social boundaries.

"You…want me to change in front of the whole store?" Elle asked giving Claire a queer look. Claire just closed her eye and leaned against the wall. Nope, no boundaries.

"Never mind Elle, show me the second shirt."

---

It was a couple hours later and they were resting on a bench with their many purchases lying on the floor. At first Elle was hesitant to buy anything, but once Claire, feeling defiant, insisted on using Nathan's credit card, they both went wild. Elle was all for acting out.

Now it was getting late and Claire was sure she should probably head home soon, hoping for the best. Elle hadn't gotten any phone calls or anything, though, so she wondered if the family meeting had happened. Wouldn't they have wanted as many people there as possible? Claire glanced over at Elle, who was leaning against her with arms linked again and one hand absently playing with Claire's hair and the other fiddling with her phone.

It was really weird how touchy feely Elle was, touching her constantly. Before she hadn't really touched her at all, staying as far away as possible, but it did make sense. Before she was shocking things all over the place and, while Claire didn't think Elle minded shocking people, she did hate the loss of control. Now Elle had control again, and Peter had said that Elle acted weird with him too. Claire had figured it was her socially messed up version of seduction, but maybe it was just being socially messed up. Claire figured she never had the normal hugs and whatnot when she was younger, so Claire let her be overly touchy. It was weird, but so was Elle.

Well, if she wasn't a distraction, if it didn't matter that she had spent the day with Elle, then maybe she could get some information out of it.

"Elle," Claire said, causing Elle to hurriedly flip her phone away for some reason.

"Yeah," Elle said nervously, looking a touch guilty before it disappeared and she looked normal.

"Umm well earlier when we were talking about Pinehearst and you said they had only sort of helped you, what did you mean," Claire asked, hoping this was a good starting point for an inquisition. Elle looked at her a little disappointed and Claire got the distinct feeling that Elle knew this was coming.

And she did. Elle had known that Claire had a reason for hanging out with her, and it wasn't because she wanted to make nice. Claire kept checking her phone and would space out while Elle was talking, like she had something more important on her mind. Not that Elle really minded, because she didn't. Sure it would be nice to have Claire's full attention, after all Claire was supposed to be hanging out with her and having fun. She could have at least pretended better, but Elle knew that it was selfish to think like that. Elle didn't even deserve the second chance; she was lucky Claire was even willing to spend time with her. Besides, Gabriel said they were being better people now, and that meant making amends. If part of making amends was telling Claire about what happened to her, or some worthless information about the company, then so be it.

Of course, she wasn't going to admit to how badly she almost got screwed. She would skim over the part where her stupidity and thoughtlessness got her shackled and thrown in a dirty cell in two seconds flat. And she couldn't say anything that might get Gabriel in trouble, or make Pinehearst get rid of her. She really could care less about their goals or whatever, but she was a company girl… she really had no other option. Not after Mrs. Petrelli fired her and what perfect revenge, working with her husband. Plus Gabriel might need her help and she wanted to stay close by. After all, no matter what way this Claire ended, she still had him.

"Well, umm, when I went into the building I wasn't feeling to happy, I mean, I really did appreciate that you helped me. I wasn't lying, so when I made it in the building I went a little haywire… because apparently my shocks were mental. So I'm there just spazzing out and then I'm out. Like blacked out. I don't know if my body finally had too much electricity or if someone tranqed me, but next thing I know I'm waking up in… a room. There were…precautions to keep me in the room and I was just stuck there for a while, shocking myself. And umm, you have to promise not to freak out," Elle stopped and looked at Claire expectantly. Claire furrowed her brow in confusion and nodded.

"Okay, well I was in the ce-room shocking myself when Ga-Sylar came in-"

"What! Sylar-" Claire exclaimed, standing up suddenly and pulling herself out of Elle's light grip. She was glaring again, but also looked a little worried. Elle reached up to grab her again, desperate for Claire to wait, to listen, to not leave.

"Claire," Elle said quietly, but with urgency, "Sit down and let me finish." She knows what's coming and knows she needs to get it out there; let Claire know all the facts. The problem is that she knows how Claire will respond. Claire won't approve, will speak harshly with a voice dripping with criticism and venom. Or worse, she'll talk quietly in that demeaning tone; like 'be a good girl, Elle, or you won't get a treat.' Or 'Elle, what have we said about shocking people…' The way her father used to talk to her; the way Mr. Petrelli talks to Gabriel even if he doesn't see it.

Claire would see it, though, because Claire's dad is similar. He's never used his praise, his love, his approval as a system of control; not with Claire. Not as far as she knows… But he's a manipulator. After all, he has messed with Elle's mind in the past, many times. Sometimes with the Haitian, whose loyalties have always been questionable, and sometimes not. She could have forgiven him, she guesses, because she didn't think any of his manipulations were that harmful. But some of the things she's learned lately make her hate him.

The gift of memories, a final bit of bargaining to sway her allegiance, told her things she really wished she didn't know. Like how forgiving Gabriel really is, considering what she did, and the part Bennet played. Not to mention how he screwed with his own family; she knows that the Haitian is familiar with them and it gives her a rush of empathy. Well, she calls it empathy, and Gabriel agrees, but she was told by shrinks that these feelings are just narcissistic tendencies, feeling bad for herself by seeing similarities between herself and others. She doesn't know what the truth is; all she knows is that Bennet isn't a nice man. He is a family man and a company man, and, with him, both lifestyles have a fair amount of deceit and control in them. If Claire is going to trust her, forgive her, then Elle knows she must blaze through, no lies and no omissions. She hopes Claire won't be too mad.

"Fine," Claire stated stiffly, sitting back down. Elle scooted closer, so she could keep her voice down and still show the importance of the story. She also wrapped her arm around Claire's again, loosely so Claire wouldn't think she was trying to stop her from leaving. Although, it was there to make Claire think twice about jumping up and taking off, and if Claire was even the tiniest bit like her, the human contact might give her comfort. At the very least it would give Elle comfort in getting through the tale. She took a deep breath and clenched her fist to keep her nervous nelly fingers from playing with Claire's pretty hair.

"So S-Sylar came in and, well, even if you hate the rest of the story, you'll enjoy this part. I saw him and I, well I guess I froze for second 'cause you know. But then I zapped myself a little and it all came crashing down. I completely freaked out and started letting loose as many volts as possible while screaming at the top of my lungs. I'm pretty sure this went on for hours and I lost count of how many times I killed him," Elle breathed, still getting a little rush thinking about letting out that much electricity and the target still living. Claire wasn't smiling, though, Elle noticed. Elle hurriedly pulled her hand out of Claire's hair, it had somehow got tangled there while she was talking, and grasped Claire's hand to keep it from happening again.

"So, if it wasn't for me," Claire started in a soft voice, "he would be dead, repeatedly… now he's never going to quit." Elle looked at her sharply, only able to hear because of her awesomely smart move of sitting so close. She really had so much to tell Claire; so much Claire needed to know. But she had to do this in the order. Still…

"If," Elle started nervously, "it wasn't for me; Sylar would have been stopped a long time ago." It's so much more complicated than that, but that's all she can bring herself to say right now. At Claire's inquiring look, she hurries to get through with the rest of her story, "I'll get to that in a minute. So I was electrocuting Sylar, zapping him with all I had, and it was awe- well it was like he could have stopped me, but he didn't even try. He just let me keep going, keep zapping him, and not a little bit. A lot. And he said d…deserved vengeance for my father so I could unleash it all on him. He said he could take it, although by the way he was screaming… he must have been in such pain. It was pretty insane," Elle said with this strange lilt in her voice. It was easy to tell that she didn't think it was insane; she thought it was incredible. Claire felt a shot of anger, but not at Elle.

She knew the rush that came with using her powers with someone else, someone similar. It was what drew Claire to West in the first place. He was attractive, but she had pretty much despised him as soon as he opened his mouth. Him finding out about her powers, even if it was because of his creepy stalker tendencies, was what made the relationship work. He accepted her and thought her powers were cool. In retrospect, it wasn't a very good relationship, but at the time she had been willing to forsake her father for him.

If she was completely honest with herself, she was so upset because Sylar was using her powers to create that connection. It was like he was using Claire to make Elle like him. Claire could have done it, taking the electricity, like on the plane. She would have helped Elle if asked, and she's sure she would have felt that connection again.

"I…I didn't tell you everything before, in your house," Elle stuttered, suddenly nervous, "but my dad, well you know he wasn't the nicest guy. Not even to me. He screwed me up; it's his fault I'm so… weird, even your dad would agree, and when he died without telling me he was proud of me or that he lo-, I felt sad and guilty. But I also felt free and relieved, and I hated myself for it. Claude said that might have been why I was hurting myself, but all I know for sure was that attacking Sylar, giving it all I had, was the closest I could come to avenging my dad and stop being a bad daughter. It was hard because it hurt, but I deserved it and Sylar deserved it and then… then he started talking." Elle was quiet for a moment and Claire swallowed hard, knowing she wouldn't like whatever Elle was going to say next. Nothing that came out of Sylar's mouth was good.

"He said… he said that I needed to forgive myself. He said that it was my father's fault and some of the things… just he talked like he knew me, could understand me, and he said so many things. Suddenly, I didn't hurt anymore and Gabriel, because he's not Sylar anymore, Gabriel was able to use my power without killing me. He was so happy, he was crying." Elle practically gushed, not even noticing how Claire had become very still.

Claire's thoughts raced as quickly as her heart and she felt a rush of anger towards Elle. It wasn't the same kind of anger that she felt when her father was working with Sylar, though, and she knows it should be. Instead it's a twisting rage that makes her want to scream at Elle, tell her she's being an idiot, yell about how she's being so obviously manipulated.

"What happened next," Claire asked quietly, careful not to let the anger show in her voice.

"We spent the next hour or two talking, and me showing him how to use the electricity. It was awesome; I've never been able to help someone like that. I've never actually been useful, irreplaceable. We talked about our parents and how much they suck. About my…my memories and how his nature mom's a bitch and his nurture's not much better. I don't know how you can stand it, her hanging around all the time telling you what to do," she finished with a sour look, ready for the part of the conversation where they moan about their crappy authority figures. She could think of a million different ways to insult Mrs. Petrelli, but she wants to hear some of the ones Claire has no doubt thought up. Unfortunately, the only thing she gets is confusion.

"Who?" Claire asked, trying to keep her tone mild. She couldn't care less about all the ways Sylar's parents screwed him up, he was irredeemable in her eyes, but if she was working with them, she needed to know. And if she wasn't working with them, then it was best to keep up with his lies. All the better to refute them.

"You know…Mrs. Petrelli. Can you believe her, though," Elle continued, anxious to get to the Angela Petrelli bitchfest, "She fires me because my work was sloppy and then goes and hires her kill happy son? By the way, any perceived sloppiness, not my fault. I was still fairly new to field work and got sent out on high level cases without any sort of worthwhile partner. I mean, at least I didn't kill my main objective. It serves her right that he found out the truth. She was all, 'You're my son, we had to put you up for adoption, but I'll love you if you do my bidding.' And Mr. Petrelli totally tossed that out all, 'Actually, she dreamed of how much of a monster you'd be and tried to drown you. I saved you and I'll love you if you be my little monster.' They both suck," she finishes slowly, grin long gone.

Elle might not be the most social savvy person around, but only someone deaf, dumb, and blind could miss Claire's reaction. Her hand had gone numb because of Claire's death grip and her breathing made Elle wonder if she should find a paper bag. But it was Claire's look of complete horror that makes Elle wonder if she never heard any of this story before.

"He…what? Sylar…is…my uncle?!" she mutters incredulously, hysterically. She's not even looking at Elle, doesn't seem to remember she's still there, too busy staring at nothing and sputtering nonsensically. She gives a little disbelieving laugh and takes a gasp of oxygen before she's able to start making sense.

"Why didn't anyone tell me…does anyone else know?" she questioned, demanded. Elle hesitated at Claire's despondent eyes, but she had promised herself to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

"I thought everyone knew, but the only ones who I had been explicably told about were the wicked bitch and Peter."

"Peter?! Peter knew and didn't tell me?" Clair was really starting to freak out. Tears were starting to escape from her eyes, and Elle wondered how close Peter and Claire were. A tiny voice whispered that this would be the perfect time to win Claire over. A few carefully worded truths dropped at the right moment and Claire would be running with her to Pinehearst or wherever Elle wanted to go. Gabriel had given her lots of information to work with, strangely enough, and the tale of Petrelli sacrificing that girl for Gabriel, Peter trying to save Gabriel, or even Bennet's contribution to the creation of Sylar. Elle could easily rationalize that Claire deserved to know this information. Yet, for some reason, Elle elected to give Claire some recovery time. Claire wrenched her hand from Elle and made the move to run, and Elle didn't stop her with seductive, manipulative words. Instead she reached out and hugged Claire tightly, ignoring her struggling as she pulled her back to the bench.

"I'm sorry," Elle kept whispering into Claire's hair until she had calmed down. She let go and pretended she didn't feel the wetness on her shirt. Elle swallowed nervously and wondered what she was supposed to do now. Claire just sat there, staring silently, with a look Elle couldn't decipher.

"Should I… do you want me to continue?" Elle questioned hesitantly and received a silent nod.

"Okay, so that's basically why Sylar's working at Pinehearst now, and I really don't know what they're up too. I don't really care, either. The thing is… I don't want to be a company girl anymore. The main reason I'm still there is Gabriel, and I know you don't approve, but you don't understand. The way he is acting right now is like a flashback to my childhood. Hell, it's a flashback to a month ago. I don't know why he doesn't see it. He gave me some blood, I'm not sure whose exactly, but it wasn't yours. It didn't fix everything, maybe there wasn't enough or something, but I do remember some things that used to be a haze and one of them is part of why I'm trying to help Gabriel. It's… listen you're going to hate me after this, I know you will, so can we do this tomorrow? Just to give you some time to process things, so that I'm not just overloading you. I need time, to build up my confidence, and stuff," and maybe she's a coward, but she really wants Claire to be her friend and she knows her next story will destroy any chance of that. At least she still has Gabriel, as much of a lackey as he's becoming.

Claire furious at first; it's a cop out, somebody trying to protect her, she's sick of being lied too. But she's also exhausted. It has been a long day and Elle was more informative than her own side lately. She should also check the information she's been given. She turns to tell Elle okay, but not nicely because she is angry, but instead sees how tired and fearful Elle looks. When Claire decided to go along and hang out with Elle, she told herself not to fall for it again. The kicked puppy looks and strange solidarity pulled her in last time, made her trust and feel again, but look how that ended. Yet, once again, she feels that pull of emotion and instantly forgives Elle, if not for whatever she'll explain tomorrow, then at least for making her wait.

"Alright," Claire allows, trying to form a reassuring grin, "We'll meet tomorrow. And if it helps any, I promise to hear you out before I declare my never ending hatred."

"Promise," Elle says weakly.

"Pinky swear."

Elle lets out a squeal and pulls Claire into a quick hug. The two girls leave the mall, heads equally filled with thoughts and head to their respective homes. Claire takes note that Pinehearst is still standing, but really doesn't care. As she takes the bus home, she wonders how she is going to deal with her family. She is glad, though, that at least her bio mom doesn't have any hidden psycho uncles for her to worry about. Elle watches the bus leave from her hiding spot, just to make sure Claire made it to the bus safely, and wonders what she should do now. She figures that she'll rent a room tonight because, while she owes Gabriel her alliance, this isn't something she should share just yet. And she knows that if she sleeps at Pinehearst tonight, she'll eventually feel guilty enough to spill. Or worse, Mr. Petrelli, who she doesn't owe any loyalty to, will rip the meeting out of her head and use her to get to Claire. She leaves a quick message for Gabriel on his phone, so he doesn't wonder, and heads to the nearest, nicest hotel.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, yeah, it's been awhile and this one is pretty long, but if you make it through it…well, I like it from a writing stand point. It's a bit wordy and of course dialogue heavy, but there are a bunch of tiny little things that I had fun with…like a VM reference. Still, I know that, at the very least, my point of view was all over the place. I have so much respect for writers that can do a good first person or at least keep 3d in one person the entire time. I hope you enjoy this at least a little bit…**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS…all I want for Christmas is reviews.**

**Have You Met Their Mother**

Part 2

When Claire finally made it home that night, much later than her dad or mom would ever be okay with, the rest of the Petrellis were not up and about. Their doors were all closed and Peter's room, the only one she felt comfortable checking, was locked, so Claire figured they must have made it home okay. Despite, or perhaps because of, all the information she had found out today, she was a little upset that no one had bothered to stay up for her. Especially since they all knew how worried she had been. She made it to her room and practically collapsed into her bed. Unfortunately, her mind was too busy buzzing with thoughts from the day, and it was hours before she finally fell into a restless sleep.

She woke up the next morning shaking. Try as she might, she could not remember her dream beyond the vague feeling of being in a school, her old school in Texas, and being surrounded by mysterious people shrouded in shadows. Of course, knowing her luck, the people were probably relatives of hers somehow.

At the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs, Claire got up and ready in a flash. She may have missed them yesterday, but she wanted, needed, answers before she met up with Elle later today. She hurried downstairs and slowly, and she'd admit a bit sulkily, stalked into the dining room. She got some breakfast and joinded her family at the table, but just toyed with the food, pointedly glaring at the others. Peter eventually got a bit unnerved and cleared his throat nervously.

"So, you got home late last night," he said, trying to make conversation and still avoid the only subject she wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, I went to a mall that was further away, you know, keeping outta sight until things are all sorted out," she lied shamelessly. After all, she reasoned, they started it. "You were all in bed and, I assume, safe when I got home. Does that mean the meeting went well?" Peter and Nathan exchanged nervous glances and Claire was hit with a surge of anger. She recognized the look, of course. It was the look her Mom and Dad would exchange before grounding her or getting in a fight with her. They were acting like she was some child who would throw a tantrum at the slightest bit of bad news. And maybe there was a little bit of truth in that, since they were always acting so unreasonable and she was so powerless to do anything.

But that didn't matter because, after last night with Elle, she wasn't even sure she wanted to stay on this team (heh). She had known that her Dad was working with Sylar, while plotting to kill him, but it had never really sunk in beyond her Dad. To know that Angela had hired him because he was her son, Claire's uncle, was another sharp betrayal. Any side that Sylar was on wasn't the side she'd choose.

Of course, she had known that Angela was a cold-hearted, backstabbing bitch. It was Peter's betrayal that hurt the most. He had been her hero and was willing to overlook what Sylar had done to her. No, if she had anywhere else to go, she would be out of this house in a flash. The only one she was unsure of was Nathan, the father who never wanted her and would pay to get rid of her and that certainly wasn't enough to keep her around. Too bad her Dad was MIA and she couldn't risk going back to her Mom. Risking her with Doyle was bad enough. Her attention snapped back as Angela started talking over her son's awkward looks.

"Despite what you may think, Claire, we are not quite stupid enough to come when he calls. We rearranged the meeting so that we can wait till the Haitian gets back from a mission," Angela stated sharply, still looking down at Claire. Because of course she can accept her serial killer son, but not her other son's little mistake.

Claire's fist clenched under the table in anger and wishes she could throw all of Angela's lies right back in her face. She swallows her rage, though, knowing that spreading her knowledge will spread where she got the knowledge, and she doubts she'd make it out of the house to see Elle again.

"Right," Claire snarks, not yet ready to give in, "because Petrelli family plans work out so well. I can still remember that time where you made the world a better place by destroying New York. Those were the days, you know, when there was only one evil company to fear." Angela narrowed her eyes in aggravation.

"Watch yourself, Claire, there are easier ways to keep track of bratty teenagers and the potential catalysts they might contain and not all of them are as easy as staying with your biological family," Angela threatens softly, before she gets up and leaves the table. Peter immediately tries to rationalize the blatant threat given by his mother, apparently deciding to be on her side this week.

"Claire, she doesn't mean that. She's just had a bad couple of weeks and you're not making this any easier on her," he said patronizingly. Claire laughed disbelievingly and responded without thinking.

"I'm not making this easy…ME! My life has been hell lately and I'm forced to stay with liars and would be murderers while my Dad is nowhere to be found, but I'm the one being unfair. Why, Peter? What has made these past couple of weeks so horrible," she stated harshly. She intentionally left room for Peter to fill in the blanks. This was his chance to tell her the truth about what's been happening lately; she didn't want to be mad at him. He had been her hero for so long, her support system, and losing that was the worst part about this entire mess. And of course he let her down.

"Mom's issues are her own, and my Father's, from a long time ago. You don't have to worry about it, just try and be reasonable. We're all just trying to stay under the radar for a while." Of course, this was all said in that holier-than-thou tone the Peter is very good at acquiring, as if he wasn't just as screwed up as everybody else.

"Whatever, so the meeting is put off indefinitely, huh? What does that mean exactly?" she asked, afraid that if she continued the old conversation her mall meeting with Elle would come out. She hurried through breakfast as Peter explained that the Haitian would be there to put everyone on equal footing, and in the worst case scenario, keep people from healing. She scowled as Peter and Nathan started discussing the plan in front of her, but very obviously censoring some things. She interrupted only when she thought of a sufficiently subtle way to find out if Sylar was indeed her uncle.

"Why is Sylar even working for Pinehearst; he's not really a team player and I don't think your Dad has that much to offer. I still don't get why he was working at Primatech, because I don't buy him turning over a new leaf right after slicing my head open," she said, watching her bio-dad and uncle's faces. Peter immediately looked a little nervous and shocked, glancing quickly at Nathan, whose grim expression just tightened.

"I don't know why either of are parent's worked with that madman, but he was probably strolling for powers. I know a while ago he had a list he stole from that scientist, but that's probably all used up by now. Knowing our parents, they probably thought they could control him; maybe let him look at corpses or something. Who can understand a psychopath," Nathan stated, his tone of voice not hiding anything.

He seemed to be telling the truth, but he was a politician and probably had the straight face completely mastered. Peter, on the other hand, was looking at his brother a little uneasily, with a look of startled realization covering his face. Right then and there, Claire knew that Elle had been telling the truth, and that her uncle was not nearly as smart as she had thought. He seriously looked like he didn't even realize that he hadn't told Nathan that the psychopath was their brother.

Claire sat around the table listening to awkward conversation for another hour, thinking this was more than enough time to bring up the Sylar situation. But it never came up and it was becoming harder and harder to listen to this chatter, so Claire excused herself.

"I'm going to the mall," she called out as she left, and was not shocked with they gave no protests. As soon as she was out of the room, she heard Peter start whispering frantically and vowed that she was going to get out of this house and away from this family. Elle may have had the horrible nurture claim, but Claire's nature is just as messed up. She's out the door in minutes and ready for what she's pretty sure will be another emotional rollercoaster of a day.

---

Claire strolled slowly through the mall, eyes targeting every glance of blonde hair, cursing herself and cursing Elle for being so vague about meeting up. They hadn't declared a where or a when and she mostly blames herself for this as she doubts Elle was used to making plans. Still, this meant she had no idea where Elle would be or if she was even there yet. For all Claire knew, Elle wasn't going to show up for hours and just waiting this long was making her crazy. Every second that passed made her feel increasingly nervous, especially after the time she had endured with her 'family' this morning.

She doesn't think anyone else hates their powers the way she hates hers. Not only is it a reactionary, defensive power that really only seems to help her, but it always ends with people using her. Ever since they manifested, Claire has become increasingly disillusioned with the goodness of humanity. Everyone she loved had lied and betrayed her at different points and she couldn't stop the cold feeling of dread that was starting to pool in her stomach. What made Elle different? Claire couldn't help but wonder if she was even going to show up today, or worse, if she had done a 360 and would be showing up with buddies from Pinehearst.

With a start, Claire realized what a risk she was taking by meeting up with Elle on purpose without any of her family "team" knowing where she was. They may be liars, they might not respect her, they might even think of her as a tool, but she was positive that they wouldn't hurt her or her family. Who really knows with Elle? She had seemed sincere yesterday, but Claire had to remember that she had spent a fair amount of the time gushing about Sylar. Claire felt so stupid for giving a self-confessed sociopath her trust just because she had told Claire a couple of secrets and flashed her baby blues.

Claire scowled, chastising herself being an idiot. She had made her bed and now she just had to lie in it. She tried to calm the doubts that plagued her mind, but there was still uncertainty in Claire's eyes when she found Elle. Or more correctly, when Elle found her.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Elle had been waiting for Claire for a couple hours now, because, as much as she didn't want to explain her first meeting with Gabriel, she couldn't risk making Claire wait. She had never hung out with friends before, not ever, and while Elle knows this isn't a normal meeting, she is not going to screw this by being sloppy. So she spent half the night in the crummy motel planning on how to do this right. She didn't even call Gabriel and risk letting something slip because she knew that Claire wouldn't want her to (though she may have left him a message so he wouldn't wonder).

Luckily for her, she had been raised to get up early and it was no problem for her to be one of the first people in the mall. Of course, the downside of this was that she had to wait. She didn't know what time Claire was going to show up and she didn't know where, so that left her waiting not so patiently in the coffee shop she had found Claire in the other day. It was taking just about every ounce of will power she possessed not to start wondering around, she wasn't the most patient person, but here she was, sitting in the same spot for hours now. The annoying, nosy workers were giving her weird looks, she really should have brought or bought a book or something, but didn't complain as long as she kept buying coffee.

Finally, Elle spotted a familiar flash of blond hair and felt a jolt of unease at the harried, wary expression on the cheerleader's face. She swallowed down her nervousness, and jumped out of the seat. She headed towards the other girl and opened her mouth to call out, but stopped as another thought hit her. She smiled deviously, ducking out of the way when Claire turned in her direction.

_This will be fun._ Elle stealthily maneuvered herself so she was situated right behind Claire and smirked…

"Hey Claire," Elle trilled, and when Claire turned around, very abruptly, Elle jumped forward into a big, friendly hello hug. Elle was a little disappointed Claire hadn't screamed, but it all worked out. Especially when Claire gave her a tentative hug back, something she wasn't really used to happening. Elle gave Claire a bright grin and grabbed her hand.

"Come on, I have a table we can sit at," she said, pulling Claire to her little perch. Claire fumbled a bit, looking nervous, before she finally sat down.

"Err," she stuttered, looking at the pile of cups, "Were you waiting long." Elle gave a sharp little giggle, but decided it was probably best not to tell Claire exactly how long she had been waiting. People don't like desperate.

"Not too long, just enough for a couple of cups," Elle said still smiling. She fidgeted a bit with her fingers, trying to ignore the awkward silence that was beginning. Claire suddenly pushed her chair back, making a loud screech, and looked at Elle imploringly.

"So," Claire started, swallowing back any nervousness, "You said you had something to, uh, tell me." And the smile dropped from Elle's face as quickly as sparks could fly from her finger tips. "About Sylar, you said…"

"Yeah…" Elle started, looking distinctly uncomfortable and playing with her fingers nervously, "You, uh, you said you would listen to the whole thing first…right." Claire is staring at her squinty eyed, and Elle is worried that something happened. Something made her remember how messed up Elle is, or someone at her home reminded her…or something, because it is not the nicest of expressions…but she nods.

Elle breaths shallowly, edging her chair closer to the table and Claire, but then rethinks it and pushes away. She is popping electricity nervously between her fingertips as she begins to tell the tale that will most likely end with Claire running away from the table in disgust. She opens her mouth, ready to spill, but decides one final sip of coffee is needed, even if it is cold by now. She takes a deep breath and-

"Elle," Claire says sharply, and with a lining of authority, "Stop hesitating…just stop and get on with the story. I promise to try and not be too harsh, but the suspense thing is not…not fun." Elle looks at her for a moment with piercing eyes, shadowed by her bangs and opens her mouth. .

Claire can see that her little…pep talk worked, that Elle is about to speak, and she wonders if she really wants to hear this. She sees how nervous and jittery Elle is, and she is pretty sure it's not the coffee. She is a little alarmed by how much she wants to reach over and hug the older girl to provide comfort, she knows that Elle is more than a little touchy feely, but she resists the urge. She needs to know why Elle is so nervous…what could possibly be worse than what she said yesterday.

The words start spilling

"Well," Elle started nervously, staring at a spot just to the side of Claire, "Like I said, this is basically about Gabriel and me…and well, your dad too," and she flinched a little at Claire's sudden look, "but mostly me and Gabriel…"

"See, a long time ago, we, uh, used to be…friends, I guess. Not really, but…" and Elle let out a puff of air, frustrated, "It was a mission, really one of my first ones that occurred outside company walls. I… like I said, my memories are still fuzzy on a lot of things and I'm not sure about the timeframe between this and a couple other missions that take place around the same time…I think one involves you, but I wasn't focusing on that when they gave me the blood and it's all very…peripheral, like right on the edges.

But back to Gabriel, and right then when I met him, I think he really was Gabriel. The mission was mostly observation, but we, me and your dad were partners, needed to get in close and try and find out about his powers. I had wondered why we couldn't just, you know, bag and tag, but I guess it was Petrelli blood that gets you special treatment." She couldn't hold back the harsh, bitter laugh. She can't even imagine the experiments that could be done on a mimic, but was Peter ever near a lab…not that Angela knew about and definitely not before his father's "death." She snaps out of her musing as she notices a frustrated look on Claire's face.

"No offence, I mean. It's great that they never got you, though we had Adam for, like, ever…I don't really see why we would need you. Though, I don't remember any experiments on Adam, but with my memory…" and she trails off with her eyes on the ground, unsure where she was heading, but not wanting to get into her past. She figured Claire knew some of it, and she had told her a tiny bit, but Elle didn't want to go into any sorts of detail. It was…she didn't want Claire to…to pity her or worse, think she was broken and beyond repair.

But something she said caught Claire's interest, and the cheerleader grabs Elle's attention with a tentative hand on her arm. Elle's eyes snap up to Claire's face, to Claire's eyes, for the first time since she began talking.

"Not that I'm not anxious to hear your big **Sylar** story," Claire says, "because I am, but who is Adam?" And the smile that explodes on Elle's face is bright enough to make Claire feel just a wee bit jealous.

"Adam was this regenerator in Level Five who was a lot of fun. See, most of the level fivers are either gross and pervy or all sorts of depressed and unfun, but Adam wasn't. Not only was he, like, super hot, but he was sophisticated and British. When I was younger he used to tell me the most amazing stories and when I got older we…uh…did other things, but the stories were great," Elle explains excitedly, though she does awkwardly stumble at the end. "He stopped being nice eventually, though, and he was the one who helped Peter… run off."

"Oh," Claire starts, that familiar, annoying look in her eye and bite in her tone, "He helped Peter escape…was he like Peter and thrown in there for no good reason. Like my Dad and…and Canfield and how many others." Claire's voice gets louder and angrier, and she can admit that part of her anger comes from the hapless confusion that spreads across Elle's face. That Elle doesn't understand why this would make her angry, locking up and hurting people who don't deserve it, makes her wonder just how much she can trust, depend on, Elle. She doesn't like that and she doesn't want to dwell on it, so it's easier to just be angry.

"Err, no," Elle hesitantly says, averting her eyes slightly, "He tried to unleash a virus that would kill the vast majority of the human population because he was sick of the atrocities of man and wanted them to start over with him as a godlike figure…" Elle's tone is matter of fact and she guiltily enjoys the dumfounded expression forming on Claire's face.

"Oh, well-" Claire begins, only to be cut off by Elle.

"And, while I don't agree that they necessarily agree with the decisions of the company, Peter agreed to be captive after he almost killed New York and the main reason we found your dad was because he was going around and killing company agents," Elle had picked up a little momentum and her expression is steely, though not angry, as she looks at Claire.

Claire sees something in the expression that she could easily interpret as a challenge, but decides to let it go. The truth is, every time Elle opens her mouth, Claire learns something that she feels she should already know. She feels like she really needs this information, especially this heartbreakingly believable stuff about her Dad or her bio-family, and it seems like Elle is the only one who will tell her.

"Fine," Claire says grudgingly, causing a little grin to slip out of Elle, "Just…continue your story, with Sylar." And any and all grins disappear as Elle looks seriously at Claire. Claire looks right back into the blue of Elle's eyes, wondering how anyone can switch in and out of moods so quickly.

"Do…" Elle begins hesitantly, scooting closer to Claire and wishing they were on a bench and right next to each other, "do you promise to listen this time and not, umm, take what I say as a challenge or some…sec- I mean, other things you don't know about may come up…but I need to just get through this and if, when I'm done, you have questions, I'll answer them. It'll give you incentive to stick around…" and Elle is offering a hesitant smile, an olive branch… and Claire wants to take it.

When Elle talks like this, so obviously desperate, desperately obvious, Claire just wants to…Claire is not sure if she should be mad that Elle is dangling knowledge as a bribe or guilty that she is almost taking advantage of Elle. Despite the older girl calling her naive and being right, she can admit it now, Elle always seems more vulnerable and her face more open. So Claire decides to follow her instincts, even if she can't trust herself to do that around anyone else, and smiles back.

"Promise," Claire says softly, sincerely.

"Great," Elle says happily, jumping up and grabbing Claire's hand. She decided this conversation will be better on a bench or in a booth, the tactility possibilities alone will make it easier.

"Where are we going," Claire whines, getting increasingly sick of all the delays, even if some of them were her fault.

"The stupid coffee people were giving me the stink eye," Elle explained sneakily, depositing Claire on a comfy chair, meant for harried husbands and wild kids to wait outside the store, and plopped down next to her. It was a little tight, but that didn't bother Elle in the slightest. After all, if Claire was going to abandon her after the story, then she needs all the Claire-comfort she can get now. So she snuggles up to Claire as much as she thinks Claire will let her and takes a deep breath, trying to ignore that Claire is trembling just a little beside her.

"So, like I was saying, it was an observational mission, I guess, I was sent in to find out how his powers work, because all we really knew was that he had powers that someone else had…he could have been like Peter, a, uh, mimic or whatever…so I was sent in. I'm pretty sure this was my first real interaction with people outside the company and I don't know why they did send me, but I was really eager to, uh, prove that I could be a good agent…but it's like I said on the plane, I was never a very good agent."

Claire, who knows the meaning of personal space, lets Elle snuggle up against her. Despite the ideas of how this story could end that are trickling into her head, unwanted, she hears the pain in Elle's words and she wishes she could help as easily as being her own personal lightning rod…and part of her wonders if that would help. Elle hasn't shocked her once…

"But I go into his shop, oh! He was a watch repairman and I think it's safe to say that his power intuitive aptitude, knowing how things work, came into play. But, yeah, I went into his shop and am just in time to see him hanging from his ceiling with rope around his throat. And…and I know that this makes me a horrible person, but that instant when I saw him…hanging, my one thought was that I was gonna fail, already and Daddy- and my dad would be…upset. So I shot him down." And Elle was terrified to look at Claire's face, especially since she felt Claire stiffen, so she just kept talking.

"And so I saved his life and he was crying about what a horrible person he was and how it wasn't going to be okay and I comforted him, admittedly it probably wasn't very well, but it was enough for him and he was looking at me with…with these eyes that, it's just nobody had ever looked at me like that before…the closest I got was when I did something right, but he was looking at me like I had just…well, he called me an angel…" and Elle had that tone again, a sort of awe, that Claire was starting to despise. It really was easy to get Elle to open up, just be nice for two seconds and she's looking around with puppy dog eyes. Claire sighs; closing her eyes, and waits for Elle to continue.

"Well, so it progresses like it's supposed to, boy meets girl yadda yadda yadda, and I guess I, uh, got too close to the assignment. If we hadn't stepped in the first time, he would be dead…but because of me, it was worse. I know most people don't really think I'm good at my job, or…or anything really, but I got hi- I got Gabriel to trust me and believe me and he saw me as a way to forgive himself for his firs- for what his powers made him do. I was his redemption…and I used him…I didn't want to..I really…and…and.." and she can't continue anymore. She's clutching Claire tightly with both hands, squeezing through her anger and misery, her head snug against Claire. Her eyes were clenched tight and she held back any possible tears that might have wanted to escape. _Daddy's little girl was tough._

Claire ignored the sinking feeling in her chest and just let Elle clutch at her, moving to better accommodate her. She still was mostly clueless so she didn't know any words of comfort she could give…but soon enough Elle was taking a couple of gasping breaths and she seemed to reign herself in.

"Your father," and Elle hates how gruff and accusatory it comes out, wishes she could pause and rewind, "was my partner, I told you I think…well he was there to keep me in line and on the mission, didn't come into contact with Gabriel at all, never met him or talked to him, just watched from that little screen and told me how to manipulate Gabriel…but I didn't want to anymore. I know I'm messed up and that I've been manipulated, but nobody ever helped me like I could help Gabriel and nobody ever trusted me like he did. I, your Dad was always a big company man and I did respect him…maybe. Almost. Kinda. But going into the mission, I trusted him because he is a big shot so I figured if I did what he said…then I'd get the job done and Daddy would be proud. I wish…I wish I had never listened to him or took the mis- I hate your Dad, sometimes, Claire."

Elle hates the way Claire stiffens against her and she hates all the coffee she drank because it has to be the caffeine that is making her lips so loose. It's true, of course it is, but she didn't want Claire to know, didn't want Claire to think she had some sort of plot or vendetta…because she doesn't. She hates Noah Bennet for so many reasons, because…because…

"Because he's just so goddamn smug and self righteous. He can go to work and be the perfect, freaking Company Man; killing, kidnapping, lying, tor-torturing, ex-"_sob, "_experimenting; and he still gets to go home and be the fucking hero. Still gets the loving wife and diligent daughter, and a son who probably adores him, and gets no repercussions. He quits the company, fine, no he gets to be a good guy with no problems, and it's not like he..he about faces and..and changes or anything." Elle just can't stop the words coming from her mouth, faster and faster, and she's not sure she wants to. It's a day for truths after all.

"I've seen folders and heard stories; he was perfectly willing to kill an innocent little girl just to get the job done. He wasn't under employment or any sort of orders then…He gets to stand there and tell terrible stories about m- about Daddy, screws with my head and acts superior about how he's such a great person for not letting it happen to you, how the reason he never let the company near you was because he didn't want what happened to me, what I am, to be…god…" and Elle shifts her body so she's looking into Claire's eyes, trying to ignore how her voice is cracking, "If he's such a good person, a good guy, why didn't he stop it or quit working at such a place. He can just fit everybody into little boxes and once you're in one, he doesn't change his mind…he looks at me and my Dad and G-Gabriel, he doesn't see people. He's sees powers, freaks…monsters."

Elle takes a deep breath, but can't seem to release it, can't seem to calm down. It escapes as a deep, barking laugh. Elle can't help but be bitter and she doesn't care if it's immature or stupid. She has always longed for Bennet's respect, but he just used her like everyone else. Perfectly willing to let the so-called sociopath do the hard stuff so he could stand on his high horse and shatter her world with his words later on. It's so much worse because nobody else, **everybody**, seems to just jump on the horn-rimmed bandwagon. It doesn't matter what he's done or is doing, he's always everybody' hero. Even Gabriel, who was constantly persecuted and almost vortexed by the man, held him in high regard…but then, Gabriel _was_ a little off. After all, he was her friend…

…and only someone messed up would want to be her friend.

Speaking of Claire, she wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation. It was obvious that she was supposed to fly into a rage and defend her dad, she could even tell by the stiffening and shifting that Elle expected her to get upset and start throwing a fit. But she couldn't. Ever since she had started finding out the truth about her dad, and it hurt that if he had his way she would have never found out, she had been pulling away. She knew that everything Elle had said was true; in fact, Claire had raised many complaints herself. Especially when his lying sent her mom to the hospital. But she was always supposed to be grateful because he was doing it all for her…at least that's what everyone else seemed to think.

But to be honest, Claire sort of sided with Elle on this one. She didn't approve of her dad's actions…period. She didn't by the whole spiel about him only doing what was needed to protect her…it was the company that gave her to him after all. He had been doing shady activities long before she was born and throughout her childhood. Now he was protecting her, but with methods she didn't approve of and he was still lying to her about it. She loved her dad, probably always would, but she had no false assumptions about him.

So Claire swallowed and didn't try and force Elle away. She grabbed the older girl tenderly and gave her a small, crooked smile.

"Yeah, my dad's sort of a bastard…I don't know…how they convinced him to take me in the first place, but I do get it. He's morally ambiguous at best, and, well, at worst he could be seen…well, ummm, but I think you were in the middle of your story and I promised no interruptions. So if you think I'm gonna get all huffy now and miss out on the best part of the story, then you are mistaken. So get talking," Claire shot out with a grin, trying to get rid of some of the tension. It worked as Elle stopped staring at her with that wounded puppy look and gave her a vivid smile.

"Yeah, so this is where it gets…bad," Elle said, her smile turning into a small frown as she jerked her head away, "So, I had…grown attached to Gabriel and he trusted me and was looking towards me to help him gain control…you know, be normal or at least special without the killing," Elle continued, before she shook her head sharply, giving a bitter laugh.

"Fucking special, that's the watchword. That's really all he wanted to be and that's how me and your dad manipulated him. One day after a meeting with Gabriel, your dad said that it was time to figure his power out completely. I didn't want to, I mean Gabriel trusted me and even if I was lying to him…your Dad wanted to see Gabriel kill and absorb a power, mad some stupid, **stupid **metaphor and I couldn't, didn't want to be the reason he ru-ruined his new start. It meant so much…but your dad said I was…well, he basically said that it was either his way or the highway and I didn't have any other options…no life skills or anything. So I went along with him and destroyed whatever chance Gabriel had…" Elle looked so distraught that Claire couldn't feel the anger she knows she should be feeling. Her dad was another matter entirely.

"So," Claire started gently, "what did my dad have you do?" And, honestly, part of Claire didn't want to know. She learned so much and she felt so close to breaking. But that fact was that her father had done terrible things whether or not she knew about it, and she couldn't pretend he hadn't. So she would find out the full extent of what had happened in the past, because Claire figured it was the only real way to survive the future.

"Well, like I said," Elle began, staring at Claire slightly confused, "he said that we needed to see how his powers worked, so we found a guy that was on this, uh, list… It was a list that Gabriel had gotten from working with this scientist or professor or something and it had a bunch of people with powers and where they lived. He had tried to get rid of it earlier and I had snuck it out of the house. Your father brought in this guy from the list named…uh, well like I said, some things are still fuzzy….but he had the ability to shatter things or break them or something. He would do these stupid finger guns at stuff and the break, and so we had him do it in front of Gabriel. It was worse than just taunting him with the possibility of a new power, though, because I was there making it worse. I was the kerosene in a fire, you know, I just stood off to the side and kept saying how **special** that tool was and how **special **his ability was, Gabriel's magic little watchword."

Elle shot Claire a look, full of self-loathing, and gave a dark, bitter laugh.

"It went as well as you would expect. A part of me was hoping that he wouldn't…but my life is no fairytale. But I wanted it so much, that I…it was the first time I completely disregarded my orders. I shocked him, not really hard, just enough to get him to stop his attack on whatshisname. Up until then I had pretended I was…normal, as hard as it was, so he knew that everything had been a lie as soon as I let loose. He looked at me with such betrayal in his eyes and I was positive he was gonna scalp me right there, but he didn't. Even then he cared enough that…but the mission was completed and Bennet got his video and I got my proof that the world sucks. Since then I've known that I was on the wrong side, not like Stupid Mohinder who so easily manipulated or your dad who tricks himself into thinking the end justifies the mean, but I embraced it. Personified it. I ruined his life and the fact that he forgives me for that…"

Elle can't continue, too caught up with trying not to fall apart. She blinked back tears and looked at Claire with sad regret.

"Your father just fucking walked away. He didn't show an ounce of guilt or anything, just…just jumped into the nearest taxi leaving me there to head back on my own," Elle continued haltingly, steely-eyed. Claire took a deep breath, looking away. She knew that however she acted would shape whatever relationship she would have with the girl. But she already knew how she wanted to act.

"You know it's not your fault. I hate Sylar…but I'm not stupid enough to believe that he was always a villain and I can believe that his powers play a part in it. You did the right thing by not letting him kill himself, the noble thing; because you didn't know what he was capable of and everything after that…you were basically a vessel for the company. If it wasn't you then it would have been some other lackey. I…thank you for telling me all of this, I know it was hard," Claire said softly, but strongly, and Elle just stared at her.

"I don't know how I'm going to deal with my family issues, but," Claire said, throwing a grin at Elle, "well, we are at a mall and I still have a certain credit card. We could even go somewhere else, as long as it's away from Pinehearst." Elle shot her a confused look, even as her excitement was building.

"You do know, cheerleader, that Pinehearst is, like, two feet away from here. This was not the best mall to be hiding out at," Elle said, raising an eyebrow in mock askance. Claire just rolls her eyes.

"Oh, you know me, always with the rebellion. Anyway to get back at that family of mine," Claire says with a slight sneer, though it is not directed at Elle. But Claire does give Elle an idea, one that will probably get her in trouble if the mischievous smile on Elle's face is any indication.

"Fear not Claire-bear," Elle said in an exaggerated superhero voice. She jumped off the chair they had been snuggled in and beamed down at the younger girl, "I have a plan to keep up this teen rebellion phase you have going on. First, though, I need to call Gabriel and let him know I won't be by later. I only left a message yesterday and two days with no calling might make him suspicious or worried."

Claire made a look of distaste, which Elle noticed right off the bat. She may not have the best people skills, but she was able to spot any form of disapproval of any kind a mile away. Her father made sure of that.

"Don't worry," Elle said quickly, smile turning a little fake, "I won't mention you or anything and I won't let him in on my plan. It's just that, you know, enemies on both sides so checking in can be mighty important. Plus, I'm still…affiliated with Pinehearst, but he's my only real link to them so if they need me…for something…" and she trails off with a distinct look of distaste.

"Right, no, I understand," Claire says quickly, trying to clear her face. She will never like or forgive Sylar, but she's smart enough to realize that he is important to Elle. For now, anyway. If Claire is going to get Elle away from Sylar, whatever that entails, she knows it has to be slow and subtle. Elle doesn't seem like a creature of change; she latches on to the familiar and it is obvious even to Claire that she needs someone to give her direction. Claire is not going to let Sylar be that person. Elle wasn't trained to be a leader, her dad stripped her of any sort of independence, but Claire figures that she can help Elle with that even as she finds her own.

So as Elle makes her phone call, Claire catalogues everything she learned today in her mind, along with everything she still needs to know. She knows that she has a very short list of people she can trust and it is mostly conditional. Her biological family is basically out of the running in the trust department, as she can only trust Angela to do what's best for Angela and Peter and Nathan are like mostly well meaning, but stupid sheep. She needs to find a way to get away from them as soon as possible, but without waving any red flags.

The dad that raised her is another sort of conditional trust. She can trust that he honestly wants to do what is best for her, but she can't trust his methods or that he will be the slightest bit honest with her. Even if she would be safe doing what he says, she knows that other people who don't deserve trouble may not be. She had always perceived his actions ambiguous at best, but Elle's story had added a whole new layer. A part of her wants to be ashamed that she believes Elle is telling the truth without proof, and she will get proof just to quiet the voice, but she trust Elle to tell the truth about this and, honestly, the story adds up. The fact that her father helped to create the monster that has terrorized her family and countless others is only worsened by the nagging notion that he hasn't felt a bit responsible. Claire stops this line of thought before it runs away with her and continues her mental checklist.

The rest of her family can only be trusted to be her family. She loves her mom so much, and Lyle too, and it hurts her to acknowledge that if she stays with them, they will ultimately end up hurt. Even though she believes that her capture of Doyle was a complete success, even using it to bait Elle on that fateful plane ride, she occasionally has nightmares about luck being slightly different that day and her mother, biological or the one who raised her, ending up dead and her surviving once again. She loves them too much to want anything but the best for them, so they will, once again, be on the receiving end of half-truths and platitudes. But she will be more truthful than her father and she won't go around giving brain damage. And she doesn't have a real choice in the matter.

She doesn't know anyone else that isn't already aligned to a side. Maybe Meredith, but Claire hasn't seen her since the Doyle incident and, besides, Claire is pretty sure Meredith is under her dad's thumb. The only other powered person she knows is West and she hurriedly rejects him with distaste.

So, all in all, she seems to be pretty ally less. Claire, despite what everyone else would have her believe, is pretty sure that she can trust Elle. But, Claire notes with a small frown as she watches the older blond talking animatedly on the phone; she trusted the intent and not completely the actions. Claire knew that Elle wasn't raised the same way and missed out a lot and that Elle's is being tugged two directions morally right now, so she will have to have leeway. She is pretty sure that Elle wouldn't intentionally try and hurt or betray her, but might do it accidentally very easily. Not that Claire thinks Elle is stupid, especially not after hearing that she had manipulated Sylar even if it was before he became a complete psycho, just that…the idea of a dog bringing his master a present in the form of a dead animal comes to mind. And brings a small smile to Claire's usually grim face.

So she really has only one person she can even slightly rely on if she goes on her own, and she probably will considering her other option is deciding which company is the lesser of two evils. If Elle really does plan on hanging around for a while, Claire will probably have to get used to Sylar, at least until she can prove that he doesn't deserve Elle's care anyways.

Still, that is pretty meager pickings, especially considering she is basically without material backup as well seeing as she had as much money as the average, jobless teenager and completely reliant on her family up to that point. She hadn't even finished school yet. It was going to take some serious brainstorming, and most likely some compromising on her part, for Claire to figure out this mess. And she would, later. Because, right now, Elle was strolling back with a big grin on her face that made Claire a little bit worried, but also a little excited to see what the older girl had planned.

Elle locked arms with Claire and started walking, unable to keep the smile of her face.

"So I called and reassured him," Elle started, "and like I promised, I did not mention or allude to you in the slightest." The look on Elle's face is a little expectant so Claire has to give a heartfelt thank you before Elle proceeds proudly, "I told him I needed a little me time to get acquainted with all the changes in my life and to adjust. I told him how I basically needed a whole new wardrobe and was staying at a hotel so that I could process the situation and make some hard choices. Like, I'm not officially on Pinehearst payroll, but I was offered to be and they know I have no real place to go-"

"You're welcome to come with me," Claire quickly states, making sure that Elle at least knows all the options. Elle shoots her a startled grin, but quickly rebukes her.

"Thanks Claire, I'm sure that would go over _real_ well," Elle says sarcastically, but is quick to add, "No offence or anything, I am grateful for the offer, but I'm sure that I am not considered socially acceptable in any of your families. Which is why tonight is going to be so fun." She finishes with a roguish grin that could pass for a smile, but continues her diatribe quickly to cut off the questions burning on Claire's tongue.

"Aaaaaanywaaaays," Elle playfully continues, "The Pinehearst higher-ups are positive that I will soon be joining highly esteemed genetics facility as an employee in the near future, so I managed to swing some cash for the essentials and a little more since I'm good with the boss's son. I don't like that they think I'm so needy, though. I mean, they even offered me room and board. I'll probably accept since I never lived on my own, but it is one of the things I told Gabe that I needed to think about. I think I lived in company walls long enough, you know."

"Yeah," Claire says carefully, "It would be hard to start out on your own, but probably better in the long run. But, then again, I'm a teenager…we all have that desire to move out and live on our own. Then, supposedly, we go to college and experience ramen and Laundromats and suddenly high school is remembered as the best days of our lives." Elle can't hold back a snicker, even as she wishes she could have experienced either of those.

Claire is right, though. She has all these past regrets and experiences she missed out on; she can't continue this way. When opportunity comes a knocking, Elle needs to answer the door. Following orders haven't gotten her anywhere in life; that's why she trying a new approach. People like Gabriel and Claire…they weren't people she needed to obey or people who would order her around, just…friends. Hopefully. She was still testing it out. At the very least they could both take getting shocked, although she had yet to try anything with Claire yet.

"So," Claire asked, dragging Elle out of her reverie, "he have anything interesting to say?" Yeah, Claire was playing it smooth…

"Well, I think you probably all right for now. I mean, I heard they sent some people out after you and the two of them came back empty-handed, right? Well, they were pretty much the only weapons Pinehearst has right now, discounting me, Sylar, and the boss man himself…and Mohinder, but he's busy being a scientist. Arthur is basically putting all his energy into finding out how this formula thing works, and they're looking for some sort of missing piece, so I think he'll be too busy to go after you for a while," Elle said, having no problems betraying any company secrets to Claire. Claire stopped walking and stared at her, partly because she hadn't expected that much information, but also because of what she had just said.

"You don't know," Claire asked incredulously. Elle stared at her blankly. "I'm that missing link, most likely. They're looking for a catalyst to make the formula work, given normal people powers, and my bets on me. When Sylar took a look at my brain he said there was something different and I'm pretty sure it would be me, what with the company being the one to give me to my father in the first place." Elle burst out laughing.

"Claire," she chuckles, "That's ridiculous. I'm not a science buff or anything, but either the catalyst is like some sort of naturally occurring phenomenon that is hard to find and not replicable or it something they made a long time ago and the scientist are too stupid or lazy to figure out how to recreate it without instructions. Either way, I don't know how it would survive in your body. If, and this is a big if, it is some type of biological production that can survive unnoticed in bodies somehow, I don't that it would be in yours. I understand that your body isn't as fragile as most, but there is also the factor that your superhuman healing would destroy anything it saw as a threat and somehow I don't that something able to be the vital role in a formula to give powers is able to hide in that wonderful body of yours. And what else could it be, some magical, inexplicable glowing particles. Besides, Gabriel looked at your brain and, well, do you really think that, that's what he was talking about. More likely it was…you know, healing is an awesome power."

"Yeah, whatever," Claire said, unconvinced, "Let's just go…you said something about a plan?" Elle just smiles and grabs Claire's hand, dragging her to the parking lot to a nice, but unremarkable car. As Elle opens the unlocked door, Claire figures now is a good time to start teaching an old dog new tricks.

"Wait," Claire says, pulling at Elle's sleeves, "We can't just take the car." She maintains her authoritative stance even as Elle looks to her with confusion.

"Um…I'm not stealing it. It's mine," Elle states easily, taking out a key to start the car. Claire blinks slowly, but heads over to the passenger side.

"Oh…sorry…did Pinehearst provide the car for you," Claire asked, causing Elle to chuckle a bit and look over to her as she speeds out of the parking spot.

"Like I said, I'm not official yet and I don't think they're that willing anyways. No, I've had this for a little while, but it was in a parking garage while I was in overseas with Claude and I went straight to your house afterwards," Elle explained nonchalantly, as she swerved throughout traffic twenty miles over the speed limit.

"Umm, maybe you should slow down a little bit. So how did you get the car…and who's Claude," Claire asked as she double checked her seat belt.

"What? I can't slow down, we're making great time this way. Anyway, Claude's just this guy and I bought the car…obviously," Elle couldn't resist rolling her eyes as she ran through a red light, "Yeah, yeah, honk all you like buddy."

"Oh my god, is he okay," Claire exclaimed, turning to watch the wreckage, "How did you afford this car, it's really nice…but seriously, who's Claude."

"You really need to relax a little bit, that guy is going to be fine…as long as he was wearing his seatbelt," Elle assured Claire, "And I have no idea if you know this or not, but my dad could turn anything into gold. Nakamura may have provided stock information, but my dad was the startup capital and even if he wasn't father of the year, I still had a great many…toys. When I was younger…Watch the road, dumbass…anyways, it was especially useful when I was younger since I short circuited any electronics, but I got better control when I was older. Of course, I wouldn't have gotten any of his money if I had quit and even now I don't know how to access the money I inherited. Or wherever all my paychecks went…one more thing to do while we're at the Petrelli compound."

"Who the hell is CL- wait, we're going back to the Petrelli's? Why?" Claire asked anxiously. Elle smiled wickedly.

"I would love to tell you about Claude, Claire," she exclaimed enthusiastically as she jerked the car into a sharp turn causing Claire to clutch desperately at the seats and thank god she was indestructible, "He was actually your dad's partner for a long time. He was this really cool guy, English and hot, with the power to be invisible. He worked with the company for a while, but eventually…well there is a reason for the one of us, one of them rule. People with powers emphasize with the innocent people they capture sometimes, and those that don't aren't usually agent material. Claude started protecting someone, I'm not sure who, but eventually your dad shot him. I'm not sure what the whole story is, but…" Elle glanced nervously at Claire, turning back to the road just in time to swerve around a slower moving car.

"He was under the radar for a long time, but some people in the company have wondered if he was behind the scenes. Eventually, good ole Peter ran into Claude and, like always, managed to screw things up. Claude had to run off to England, where I eventually found him. I was hoping that he could have helped me out, but it didn't work out." Elle glared into the steering wheel, not even bothering to respond to the person who gave her the finger as she cut him off.

"Did he turn you away?" Claire asked gently, hoping to better understand the situation so she could comfort the older girl.

"No, well yes, at first, but only because he thought I was with the company…he can be a little paranoid. But eventually, after I zapped me and him unconscious in the rain, he believed me and tried to help. He was the one who told me it was probably psychological. The problem was the idiots he was training. There was this mega-bitch who was nothing but snotty to me and decided that it was a really smart idea to chill in a Jacuzzi with me. I guess she didn't see any off those movies with the hairdryers and that music video…nevermind, stupid joke. It's just, I got in this big fight and I realized…Claude offered to let me stay, but it was really two against one and…well, that's when I went looking for your dad." Elle turned to look seriously at Claire for a moment, tension evident in her posture.

"Claire, if you ever really do need to get away from both companies for a while, Claude might be an option. He's gruff and will definitely give you shit because of your dad, but he's a good guy. One of the few people I can say that about." Claire swallowed nervously and added Claude to her mental checklist.

"Thanks, but I will probably be sticking around for at least a little while," Claire said, hiding a smile when she saw Elle relax a bit at her words, "But just for curiosity's sake, who else would be on that list." Elle looked at her inquisitively for a moment, causing Claire to flinch as a car narrowly avoided slamming into them as they ran another red light, but eventually answered her.

"Like I said, I don't know many good people. I know Nakamura's kid is floating around causing trouble, but I wouldn't count on him and just about everyone else I've heard of is affiliated already or locked up. There are files on people who haven't been bagged and tagged yet, but I don't know anything about them. I- Mohinder might have been an option before, at least temporarily, but he's become some kind of freak job at Pinehearst somehow…he and this other guy were in charge of this girl though. Not ally material or anything, she's like ten or something, but she's worth mentioning because she can find anyone, anywhere, at anytime. She just needs a picture and a map. She was in company custody for a while, but I don't really know where she is now. I can't think of anyone else, oh! There are these two kids in New Orleans with powers, too young to really form affiliations or anything, but super useful. I've never met them, but one is about your age and has a neat, but not too useful ability. But the other is another young kid, like ten or eleven, and I think he's a genius or something. He can control technology and was a big part of some plan a while back. I don't think he'd be very generous towards the company though." Claire nodded along, making a mental note to write some of this down later.

Suddenly the car took a dangerous swerve and jerked to a stop right next to another car. Taking in her surroundings, Claire realized that she was at the Petrelli's house. Time flies when you're scared for your life in a screaming metal death trap. Claire gave a little sigh as Elle jauntily jumped out of the car, before moving to get out herself. She hoped Elle's plan didn't lead to too much trouble. Unfortunately for Claire, Elle had somehow managed to park the car so close to the other car, probably Nathan's, that Claire couldn't even open the door wide enough to slip through. She gave another sigh and climbed out Elle's side where the girl was cheerfully waiting for her.

"Come on, Pom Pom, let's going inside. After all, there's only so much time n the day for this sleepover you invited me to," Elle said as they made their way to the front door.

"Sleepover I invited you to, right. And what are we going to do at this sleepover I apparently planned," Claire deadpanned.

"You know," Elle said with a smile, "All the normal teen movie sleepover things. Paint each other's nails, have pillow fights, annoy your family to high heaven….okay, front door. Act natural."

The two of them shuffled noisily into the house, smile on both their faces. Claire might be a little worried, but she was also excited in spite of herself. Her family really sucks sometimes.

"I'm back," Claire proclaims loudly upon entering the house. Peter pokes his head around the corner, most likely to say hi, but freezes at seeing Elle. She gives him a jolly, sarcastic wave.

"You!" He yells, gathering some of the other occupant's attention, "What are you doing here?"

"I live here for now, remember, I'm practically being held hostage," Claire says sardonically, pretending the question was directed towards her. Elle leans against the wall, appearing very casual and blasé about Peter's hissy fit.

"NO! What? Her, Elle. What is she doing here?" Peter asked again, flustered. By this time, Nathan and Angela had made their way into the foyer to see what was going on. Angela's eyes had narrowed upon seeing Elle, already making and scrapping plans in her head, but Nathan just stood by bewildered. He had never met, or, truthfully, heard of Elle before and could only guess at what was going on.

"I'm here for a sleepover with my bestest gal pal," Elle stated as she reached over to give Claire a hug, "Oh, but Mrs. Petrelli, I need to talk to you later about some loose ends I need to tie up with the company. You know, just some information, like me and my father's bank account information along with the proper death certificates so I can go about getting my inheritance. I assume standard procedural for his body, so if you have an urn of his ashes, I would appreciate that too."

Angela Petrelli opened her mouth, but Claire had already grabbed Elle's hand and was dragging her up the stairs. Claire pulled them into her temporary room and the two girls collapsed on the bed in a fit of laughter.

"Did you see Peter's face," Claire gasped between giggles, "His eyes were bulging so much, I thought they were going to pop out of his head. And Angela looked ready to bite your head off, I mean; she looked like she hated you."

"Well I did make out with her favorite child once…although he started it and I ended up shocking him. But, I don't know, she never liked me. She probably thinks that right now I'm up here seducing you…to the dark side…Pinehearst," Elle said, stumbling at the end. "So why are you staying at the Petrellis' in the first place. I'd figure that, barring an apocalypse, your dad wouldn't want you anywhere near here." Claire blinked at her.

"My dad is otherwise occupied with the company right now. Although, now that I think of it, I should probably call my mom," Claire said. She had been pissed off at her dad for working with Sylar, especially considering that company was under new management and probably wasn't forcing him to continue working there, but with all the new issues…she didn't even want to think about him. She didn't know what would happen when she actually confronted him. But she did love her mom who had always been there and the only reason she hadn't contacted her was because she wouldn't understand…not to mention that her mom always took her dad's side.

"But," Claire said meaningfully, "I can assure you that I would do just about anything, excluding joining the opposing team, to get away from this family. I just don't have the resources to get away from here and protect myself. Not that I need protecting, but the only other option is staying with my actual family and I can't put them in danger."

"Yeah, I can see where that sucks. I mean you can't even live on your own since, not only don't you have money, but you don't have a high school degree and you're not even old enough to rent a place, but staying with the Petrellis can't be any better than staying at Pinehearst. We know that Primatech is not chock full of good guys, but is there any evidence that Pinehearst is bad," said Elle, looking nervously at Claire.

"The only real proof there is, is who they employ. The main cast is Level 5 escapees and the leader was supposed to be dead years ago. And considering he was legally dead, the money funding that place cannot be legitimate. Overall, it's an evil I know, that happens to contain at least one family member I don't actively hate, versus the evil I don't," Claire explained quietly, trying to clarify without stating, with any interpretation, that Elle was wrong or bad for being with Pinehearst at the moment.

Elle stared at Claire for a moment before nodding slowly. She put the conversation to the back of her mind for the moment, she wasn't changing Claire's mind anytime soon and she wasn't sure she wanted to, and decided to get the sleepover started.

"So," she started with a wicked grin, "Let's get the party started. What's first? Shall we change into are nighties and pillow fight, grab some ice cream and gossip about the cute boys –not the ones you're related to, of course– or maybe we can practice kissing," she said, laughing as she gave an exaggerated wink, "Or we can start making a to do of things that must be done to get you out of this wretched home. After all, if you don't like any of the team options, you just have to plow ahead and make your own…we can do it together."

Elle had come up with the plan in the last two seconds and was nervous about how Claire would react. She didn't think the younger girl would be mad or anything like that, but the fear of rejection was pretty high. Elle had gone over all the details in her mind, as much as she could in two minutes, and they made sense and were perfect for Claire's, and hers, situation. The problem was that she meant to explain the plan in a detailed and calm tone to give it some professionalism and realism and instead it came out babbling.

"I mean," Elle continued quickly, "I should be coming into some money soon, quite a bit actually, and if your grandma resist, I'm pretty sure I can get it myself. Primatech is apparently going downhill under her rein and I don't think many people would be stopping us and I actually know most of the computer passwords, at least enough. I was always curious and bored and I have an awesome memory when nobody's there to destroy it. Plus I am of legal age and can rent buildings and buy alcohol, not that that's important, but still. Also, despite not being a very good agent, I am pretty good at being undercover…in the sense that I blend in and act the part, not in that I always fulfill my objectives. I can even get the information about like-minded, unallied people…probably. The only real drawback is that I don't see Gabriel leaving Pinehearst, although that is probably a positive on your end, but I don't think he would mind me not actually working there. He's made remarks about leaving this sort of life behind…although his idea of that probably doesn't include you…but, uh, I can also cook a li-" Elle's babbling was cut off when Claire grabbed her arm. She accidently let out a stream of electricity, not that Claire felt anything, but almost immediately relaxed.

"Calm down," Claire said exasperatedly as she rubbed where the electricity had hit her. "It's a good idea that I have been playing with for a while and you being there would only help…but we have to do it right. We will most likely only get one chance to make a clean break and then we'd have to be on high alert. The best time would probably be when the Petrellis have a big, ole family meeting, plus Hatian, and we'd have to make plans and back-up plans before that happens."

"Claire grabbed a nearby notebook and sat on the bed, poised to write. Elle hesitated for a second before cuddling up to her so that they could both see the notebook. They spent the whole night coming up with possible ideas, though it was mostly Claire's ideas with Elle throwing in advice to clean them up. She might have come with her own, but she was a little distracted as she sent out low to moderated bands of electricity against Claire's skin. She marveled at how the body reacted, muscles spasms and flesh burning, even as Claire didn't even flinch. Still, they decided that the majority of the plans would change depended on how Elle faired at the company with Angela Petrelli. The possible money and information that she could get, hopefully tomorrow, was too much of a variable to disregard. Eventually the two girl fell asleep curled up against each other on the bed, visions of a new, peaceful life dancing in their heads.


End file.
